My dearest readers, I regret to inform you that today marks the end of Scents of Self. As I was scrolling through the Kai website’s list of Kai-wearing celebrities, I discovered that luscious R&B singer Usher calls Kai “his favorite scent on a woman”. In a gesture of dedication to my boo, I will now be adopting Kai as my signature scent. No other non-Usher-sanctioned perfumes will touch my skin from this day forth. I will miss you all terribly. Please understand: I did it for Usher, y’all. I did it for Usher.
Ahem. I found my bottle of Kai Body Glow in its natural environment: a little beach shop on a gloriously warm afternoon in Florida. Please note that the body glow is said to be less sharp than the oil and eau de parfum formulations, which I have not tried. Kai combines the vegetal greenness of a freshly-cut stem with a lush bouquet of gardenias and lilies. It feels more natural than the buttery, sweeter gardenia of Monyette Paris, another niche gardenia perfume to which it is often compared.
Kai is not a complex or intellectual perfume. Its charm is its accessiblity. You don’t have to have studied under Roudnitska for five years to understand its appeal. Kai is an attractive, joyful scent meant to be worn on bright days at the beach or the park. Or on steamy nights with Usher. CALL ME, USHER. WE BOTH KNOW THAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD A CAREER SINCE LIKE 2008.
SCENTS OF SELF 
Are you wearing your BITCHY perfume?
Kai is probably my least bitchy perfume! Which is why I rarely wear it 😉
I’ve been rolling the whole Bitchy Blog in my head all day. Genius. I may SCRAPE the idea later down the track.
There’s a little drop of juice on its way to you too.
For me??? Thank you so much! You are perfectly welcome to scrape the idea- I am inspired by other perfume bloggers’ posts all the time!
Isn’t Usher too busy creating new Pop sensations these days, though?
If only! 2008 was his last successful album. Although these days he would probably claim that he prefers his own line of women’s fragrances to Kai…
“You don’t have to have studied under Roudnitska for five years to understand its appeal.”
Surely you jest. If you didn’t study under Roudnitska for AT LEAST ten years, you are unworthy to even speak about perfume.
😉
Mona di Orio trained under Roudnitska for FIFTEEN years, and she still wasn’t good enough for Luca Turin! ONLY THOSE WHO KEEP ROUDNITSKA’S CORPSE IN THEIR BASEMENT ARE ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT PERFUME.
LOL. I love it.
(PSHAW. *I* have Francois Coty’s corpse in my basement. Even as a corpse, Coty kicks Roudnitska’s butt, so THERE, LT.)
Kai is nice. I mean, I love tuberose-gardenia stuff, I love the BWFs, and all I can say about Kai is, well, it’s nice. It is appropriately on the scale between, say, Fracas and Sand & Sable, but a bunch greener, which I like. I would be quite happy if the local grocery store started smelling of women wearing Kai instead of Youth Dew. At the same time, I personally would much much rather save up for a whole bottle of Carnal Flower than spend money on Kai.
Usher still hasn’t paid for his attack on Taylor Swift, has he? You won’t let him forget. (No, no, I agree. He deserves every bit of the sarcasm.)
Pssst, Mals! Taylor Swift was interrupted by Kanye West, not by poor irrelevant Usher 😉 Kanye is a rapper, Usher is a (wonderful) singer.
I would also love to start smelling Kai around. Fortunately, I’ve never smelled Carnal Flower, so I don’t know what I’m missing!
My basement feels so empty now without a perfumer’s corpse… 😦
WELL. I am pretty ignerrant on cute black dudes with microphones.
But I do know that Coty kicks Roudnitska’s butt any day. And that you need to smell Carnal Flower.
Ari, we will miss you. 😉 A perfume wardrobe vs. Abs, I see the dilemma.
I really have to try this. I smelled it on a blotter and was a little put off, but since then I have developed A Gardenia Thing and want to give it another go. Thanks for the tip on the Body Glow. I’ll try it first. We’ll miss you, Ari! Enjoy Usher. 😀
Ari, are you really leaving?
Since Usher has yet to sweep me away, I suppose I’ll stick around 😉
Hahaha! I trust you will also be naming your firstborn son Kai too? It is quite a modish name over here in certain circles. ; – )
I so agree about Monyette Paris and think I have given my sample away. Unfortunately, I fear my sample of Kai has gone awol, as I would be curious to retest it. I think it had some common elements with Calyx, but I wouldn’t swear to that.